marketing

The 5 Keys to a Successful Marketing Career

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Constant Social Media notifications!

Emails, emails and more emails!

Client crises on a weekend or national holiday!

These are just a few of the issues marketer has to deal with in a daily basis. As you can see, marketing as a profession, isn’t exactly a very work-life balance friendly. It has a tendency to become very consuming if you don’t establish and enforce strong boundaries to prevent intense world, it is going to  take over yourself and life. The worst part of it all, is when you think you have done all you can yet the result isn’t showing. That shows that maybe you need to take a step back and analyse what is the problem and come up with the solutions.

Secret to Success

Here’s some tips I come with my personal experience on how to rebuild yourself as an individual to excel better at work.

1.Have a Positive Attitude

Stay Positive

Positivity is the way to life especially when it comes to working in an intensive field like sales and marketing you need to have always an positive mind. When a client rejects you, or you are not reaching your target, DO NOT LOSE HOPE! Instead, learn what attitude is, what aspects of your life are controlled or directed by your attitude, how to determine your attitude at any given moment, and what specific strategies make a positive attitude a permanent habit in your life. This helps you to grow as person and produce better results at work.

2.Believe in Yourself

Believe in capacity

Understand what is your potential through a simple process of identifying your personal talents and abilities. You can do this by developing an academic strengths and personal interests to create personal fulfillment and joy in what you do. When presenting an idea or talking a client make sure to have faith in what you are saying. Confidence is the key here. People are only going to buy your things if you have confidence in your words. Self believe leads to customer trust.

3.Set and Achieve Goals

Set a target

Being goal driven and ambitious takes you places. First, recognize the difference between a wish and a goal. Make a commitment, plan and take action, and recognize completion. Don’t put way too much pressure on yourself. This is where people go wrong. The set target way beyond the reach and stress out when they cannot reach the goal. So, be practical and take one step at a time. Set your a goal and works towards that direction.

4.Use your Creative Imagination

Creativity leads to success

Extend your physical ability to accelerate problem solving and goal achievement in all areas of your works. In marketing and sales field, it is important to use your creativity. Let your imagination run wild and come up with new ideas, strategies and methodology and be bold in trying them out. Luck favors the brave. So, put in the effort and take the step up.

5.Be Persistent!

Work against time

Track your own progress. Make sure you see improvement! If you don’t, then it is just a sign that you are not putting in enough effort and you need to change up your game plan. Develop the focus and determination required to succeed, create an attitude of gratitude as the access to fulfilling your dreams. In this field, persistence is the foundation. You need to  take your imagination and then turn it into exactly as you planned. It may not turn out how you want it to the first time, but when you add persistence to the equation it will only be so many attempts before you achieve perfection.

 

So, there you go. These are my top 5 strategies to how to be successful the marketing and sales field. It is simple yet we tend to foresee it due to the intensity of the field. Don’t let that get in your way and remember what is goal and work towards that.  

Here a few more things you should pay attention to better a marketer.

  • Have a clarity of purpose and direction
  • Show  commitment and interest in your work
  • Get inspired by outstanding performance of others
  • Establish a dynamic communication with your clients and customers
  • Build a good relationship with everyone

 

Key Things to Know about Marketing in ASEAN

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As for marketing, ASEAN region still remains as one of the most remarkably flexible, despite a blowout of sluggish prospects in many industrialised economies and a slowing Chinese economy. Though there are challenges to the retail sector which is mainly due to customer loss of confidence in the company and operating costs plus number of tourists visiting all as some of the reason but there region offers compelling growth opportunities anchored by rising domestic demand and fast-growing incomes.

The expansion of the market  is highly being driven by the strong fundamentals of the ASEAN market including which is a young and fast-growing population, emerging middle-class consumers, and strong GDP growth in each individual member country. Other factors that are stimulating the retail sector include falling unemployment numbers amid a tight labour market and increasing urbanisation. Employment growth clearly adds to a country’s consumption ability, while urbanisation prompts demand for the development of organised retail outlets.

Among the major ASEAN economies, Indonesia and Malaysia appear to be in a strong position to have a booming retail sector.  The four ASEAN biggest retail market nations in the region are Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The economies in the region are at significantly different stages of development, with all offering unique opportunities for retail investment. All the countries in the region are in the rapid urbanisation phase where the infrastructure is improving with relatively young populations. Most of the government in the countries are making retail friendly policies to drive the retail growth. Singapore for example, represents a mature retail market with the presence of a high number of international retailers.

Fun facts about ASEAN market:

  • Retail sales in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia is estimated to grow by an average rate growth of 6%. (The Edge Market, 2018)
  • For the same four countries mentioned above, domestic consumption is expected to increase  to 75% of GDP by 2025. (WorldBank,2016)
  • Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia’s GDP per capita figures are expected to achieve compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) of 5.4%, 9.8%, 5.0%, and 5.0%. (IMF,2018)
  • Countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have the lowest labor cost (Canasean, 2016)

What Makes ASEAN the best marketing hub?

Malaysia- Asean Pride

1.ASEAN is a powerhouse of economic power

If ASEAN was a country on its own , it would already be the seventh-largest economy in the world, with a combined GDP of $2.57 trillion in 2017 . It is predicted to rank as the fourth-largest economy in the world market by 2050. What makes it the powerhouse though is definitely the labor-force expansion and productivity improvements. It is  home to more than 600 million people, it has a larger population than the European Union (EU) and the United States of  America (USA). Another advantage of the ASEAN region is its youthful population which makes it the best spot for your retail brand

2. ASEAN is not a monolithic market therefore one strategy doesn’t fit all

Monolithic mean big and one however ASEAN is very diverse. Each country is different and each market is needs different strategy. For example, the  GDP per capita in Singapore is more than 30 times higher than in Laos and more than 50 times higher than in Cambodia and Myanmar. While Malaysia and Thailand are seeing positive growth in the retail market, Indonesia and Brunei are falling. For a fact, the standard deviation in average incomes among ASEAN countries is more than seven times that of EU member states. That diversity extends more than just economic. The cultural, language, and religion difference should all be taken in consideration before diving in the ASEAN market. Indonesia, for example, is almost 90 percent Muslim, while the Philippines is more than 80 percent Roman Catholic, and Thailand is more than 95 percent Buddhist. To come up with one for all strategy will not work in the ASEAN Market.  Although ASEAN is becoming more integrated, investors should be aware of local preferences and cultural sensitivities; they cannot rely on a one-size-fits-all strategy across such widely varying markets.

Youth of ASEAN

3. ASEAN is highly E-commerce consumer driven

Believe it or not, ASEAN has outpaced the rest of the world on growth in GDP per capita even since the late 70s. The income growth in most of the countries has remained strong and stable since 2000 . In 2000, 14 percent of the region’s population was below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day but by 2013, that share had fallen to just 3 percent. More than half of the population are part of the working class, with incomes exceeding poverty rate. According to the World Bank report, that number could almost double to 125 millions by 2025. This make ASEAN crowd a pivotal consumer of the future. Though people thinks the consumer are all single minded but  make the words there is no typical ASEAN consumer, though there is a growing preference for modern retail formats, and increment in brand awareness which is largely due to its young demographics.

Singapore- ASEAN Tiger

4. ASEAN is home to many globally competitive companies 

ASEAN includes 227 of the world’s companies with more than $1 billion in revenues, or 3 percent of the world’s total income. Singapore is a standout in the region , ranking fifth in the world for corporate-headquarters density and first for foreign subsidiaries.Consistent with this growth, foreign direct investment in ASEAN has boomed, surpassing the levels of EU. In fact, the ASEAN nations like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand attracts more foreign direct investment than China and India. In addition to attracting multinationals, ASEAN has become a launching pad for new companies; the region now accounts for 38 percent of Asia’s market for initial public offerings.

5 ASEAN is united hence easier to penetrate through the market

Despite their distinct cultures, histories, and languages, the ten member states of ASEAN share a common goal. It focuses on prosperity and development as a whole rather than just one nations. Which means investing in one country gives you a easy flow lead into another member state. Household purchasing power is rising, transforming the region into the next frontier of consumer growth. ASEAN’s goal of becoming globally competitive in a wide range of industries an opportunity to create a seamless regional market and production base. If its implementation is successful, ASEAN could prove to be a case in which the whole actually does exceed the sum of its parts.

In conclusion, the urbanization and consumer growth  in ASEAN’s cities are booming. With 22 percent of ASEAN’s population living the in metropolitan cities ASEAN consumers are increasingly moving online, with a heavy mobile penetration and Internet penetration across the region. Its member states combined makes up the world’s second-largest community of Facebook users, behind only USA. All these, makes ASEAN the hub for retail venture.

 

 

Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook Marketing

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Facebook is the world’s biggest social media platform. It has 2.2 billion active users with 1.45 billion users everyday. Do the math, you can see quarter of the world population uses Facebook every month. If that is not a solid enough reason to market yourself in Facebook then I do not know what is. Facebook has now became part of our daily live and it is inevitable. Apart from being the biggest platform to connect people from across the world, Facebook is also the heart of advertising. It has become extremely beneficial to manage company. However, there are certainly unwritten rules when it comes to marketing in Facebook. Master this and you can master the art of marketing in Facebook.

 

Let’s starts with the Do’s.

  1. Do know you audience – This the basic yet most important part of marketing. Know who your target audience and aim for them. Having a broad audience range does not really work in favor especially if you are trying to sell a product or service. Instead, understand the group of people you are targeting and works towards getting their attention. Facebook, in this case is very handy because it offers extremely functional targeting option.Make sure to use full use of them.
  2. Do include Landing pages-  What are landing pages? Landing pages are website which serves as an entry point to another website. Facebook has always been keen in helping self owned businesses to brand themselves. Landing pages is a great way for your audiences to learn more about your company or product and increases the potential of possible customers.
  3. Do include call to action- Your content is the key to attract potential customer but just words is not going to help. You need to engage with your audience and try to get them to subscribe or buy your product. Facebook has lots of options for these such as creating a voter poll, urging customer to sign up or donate and you can even sell or advertise your products.

 

Now let’s look at the Don’ts.

  1. Don’t include too much texts- Even though, Facebook does not have a word limit but no one likes to anything online with too many words. Facebook is lighthearted platform hence the content and marketing there has to be something the viewers like. Instead of words you can swap with a video or image and make it more interesting.
  2. Don’t neglect mobile users- Most marketers tend to forget this but bear in mind most Facebook users are mobile users hence make sure your content is mobile friendly.
  3. Don’t mislead people- This is a big mistake and can potentially cause you to lose lots of viewers and buyers. Be clear and direct rather than draggy and confusing.

 

These are some of the most common do and don’t of Facebook yet most people get it wrong. Always remember it is the small details that matters. So, make sure to take note of all the little details of the page and do not overdo it with too much or too less information. Hopefully, this was helpful.

 

How Keywords Leads to SEO Success

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Firstly, let’s start off of with what is keywords?

Keywords in the context of marketing are the words and phrases in your web content that make is possible for people to find it via search engines. They are extremely fundamental and significant element of SEO because it is through keywords people are able to find you online. The core idea of modern day marketing is to target audiences using specific keywords or phrases. Hence, keywords work as a bridge to connect you to your audiences. So, as I said earlier keywords are the core of SEO. A proper set of keywords is the key to a successful marketing campaign.

Just before we get into into how keywords boost your SEO standing, let me just emphasize on how important are keywords to boost your SEO standing. If you rank you  site highly for the wrong keywords, you can end up spending lots of time and effort only to find out that you did not generate any traffic. Doing plenty of research before the setting a specific and right set of keywords for your web content is without a question the most important part of the whole process because audiences search for words or phrases that they think will give them the best result for question that they are looking for. Hence, your keywords must stand out. This strengthen the bridges between you and audience and take you a step closer to the ultimate goal which is to get more traffic and generate more profit. Plus, prior keyword research helps you save money  by letting you focus only on the keywords that is delivering the results. In other words, you need to know what your audience are looking for in order to make it easy for them to find you.

This is why keywords are so important because they are directly connected SEO performance.But how to make the most of the keywords? Firstly, by placing keywords in a proper manner that optimizes ranking on your page. This helps you to improve your page ranking on search engines. Always remember, quality is more important than quantity.Therefore, when you optimize the website page the relevance of the keyword is more important than the number of keywords you are actually using. Low keywords relevance may cause a higher bounce rate and hurt the website ranking.So how to know which keyword would work the best for you? Well, that is a very delicate process of just trial and error. There are certain guidelines though which can help understand better in picking the right keyword for your content. Google Adwords Keyword Planner is one of the best tool for this. Google Adwords is one of or I personally think is the best platform for traffic. In order to fully optimize Adwords you firstly need an active running campaign on the app and also spend some good money will is definitely not wasted. There are also other paid apps that is also useful in the mission of finding the right keyword for you.

Keywords are divided into few categories. One of it is Broad Keyword. As the word suggest, this is something short or could even be just one single word which is relevant to your content. For example, if you article is about what drinks you must try in Starbucks the keyword could just be Starbucks. However, finding the one word for the whole subject could be challenging which is why broad keywords are costly and drives less Click Through Rates (CTR).Another type of keyword is Long Tail keyword. Again as the name suggest this are long words and phrases which is relevant to your content. For example, again if you content is what drinks you must try in Starbucks the keyword would be Starbucks coffee or Coffees in Starbucks. In comparison to Broad Keyword, Long Tail Keywords drives more CTR and the search volume is low. However, there’s not guarantee that all long tail keyword will work for you but the traffic is certainly more relevant. Apart from that, there are also Navigational Keyword and Informational Keyword. Different types of keyword serves different type of brands and purpose. So, know which works the best for you.

Most marketers makes mistake here where the only do SEO keyword research once and not bothering to update and expand their SEO keywords list. Plus, another common mistake is using keywords that are too popular. If you to your web content to excel avoid all these instead constantly update your keywords and it is a long tedious ongoing process so do not quit or get lazy. Most importantly, diversity is the key here. You are not going to stand out if you use the same old keywords as your competitors.  Not only should you try new keyword search tools and keep track of the results, but you should feel free to experiment based on your own research. For example like who else uses your keywords? And how do you make yourself stand out?The simplest answer to that is by providing great content that truly answers the questions your prospective customers are asking with their keyword searches.

 

How to make it to the top of Google?

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The ultimate goal of any article is to generate the highest the number of views.For that you need to  make it to the top of Google search list or at least make it in the top 10. However, to get there is not an easy task but it also within reach with the right amount work and knowledge.

Here my 5 simple and  helpful tips which should help you get on the dream list. The list is based on my personal understanding and thought it not the guaranteed formula to success but it help big time and worth a try!

1)Research

Research is the key here. Before getting started with your article do a research on how many articles or the similar topic has been written and analyze the top 10 of the list so you could also you the same strategy.SEO is an important source of traffic hence it is important to understand it not just for yourself but also your competitors. The goal is to make it to the top so replicating other’s method would be a big help because if it works for the them should also work for you.

2) Metrics

There are some metrics to measure the SEO performance which would again be a big help in reaching the goal. One of it is, website tracking. It basically  means keeping track on number of people visiting the site. This is important because the more people visiting your site increases the credibility of the work and website. Credibility is one of the thing you need in order to be top of the  Google search list. Apart from that, relevance of the article also matters. So, it is important to produce good quality content that is not niche because people are not looking for your article, the just want a good piece of information. So,as along as you produce solid content the reach would be higher and you automatically get to be on top of Google’s list.

3) Apps

There are so many apps out there that can transform your work from good to the best. Some of the best examples are like Google Click through Rate. This is a good app because it shows you the number of people click into the article. According to research, 70% of the click goes to the top of the list and that is why you have to be there. Another example would be Google Analytics which helps you measure traffic. There are plenty more apps that you can find online. Use as many as possible to help you out.

4) Backlink

What is backlink you ask? Backlinks are links to another website. They help you increase authority and also reach. However, not backlinks are created equally. Your goal is to earn quality “do follow” backlinks from high ranking pages in your niche. It is also important to remember to earn these naturally by creating  and promoting content worth linking to. Also, try to find authoritative links in that way you can reach out to those sources to pitch your latest idea or product. Though the response rate is minimum but it is worth trying.

5) Keep your eyes on enemy

The enemy here refers to your competitors. You know they say keep your friends close and enemy closer. Always keep a track on what they are up to so you  know what you are dealing with. Plus, it is also the easiest way to get started with link building. It also helps you in coming up fresher contents too.

So, there you have it, the five simple ways to get yourself straight to the top of Google ranking. Hopefully, this was helpful!